For a team whose strength supposedly lay in the frontcourt, UCLA took a while to establish itself in the paint Sunday night.

In an 84-71 win over Coastal Carolina at Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins took just a four-point lead into halftime. They shot just 35.5 percent from the field before the break, settling for a meager six points inside the paint. They entered the locker room with zero fast-break points.

Through those first 20 minutes, UCLA’s showing looked like the polar opposite of what it did in Friday’s season-opening blowout of Montana State. That night, the Bruins scored an astounding 42 points in the paint, and had six on fast breaks in the first half.

The Chanticleers admittedly offered up a much stiffer challenge than the Bobcats did nearly 48 hours earlier. Coastal Carolina returned four starters from a team that reached the NCAA tournament as a No. 16 seed, and is a popular pick to reach the postseason field again.

But too often in the first half, UCLA (2-0) readily heaved shots from beyond the arc. The Bruins clanked three to open the game, before sophomore shooting guard Isaac Hamilton drilled one to open scoring. At the break, the team had already attempted 14 3-pointers, making five.

Head coach Steve Alford credited the Chanticleers’ veteran defense, but said that his big men and his guards both missed easy chances. That affected their mindset through the last 10 minutes of the first half — turning the Bruins’ offense “stagnant.”

“We kind of stood around,” Alford said. “We didn’t keep the ball moving. … We got very slow and methodical in that last 10 minutes of the first half. That’s what our talk was at halftime. We’ve got to get the ball moving, we’ve got to get people moving. More pace, more tempo.”

Added freshman forward Kevon Looney: “We didn’t really pushing the ball. That was the real problem. … We haven’t played a lot of half-court in a real live game.”

As Coastal Carolina (1-1) worked to limit transition baskets, senior Norman Powell turned into microcosm of his UCLA’s stylistic flip-flop. One of the best driving guards in the conference, the shooting guard opened the game by taking seven of his first nine shots from long range — just two shy of his full-game career high.

With 4:57 remaining in the game, Powell fouled out. He left having made three of his five field goals from beyond the arc. He finished with 13 points, but without a free-throw attempt for the first time since Feb. 13.

Even as the team’s third or fourth offensive option during the 2013-14 season, Powell earned at least one trip to the line in all but five of his 37 games. He did not take more than five 3-pointers in any outing.

The Bruins eventually rounded back into form, feeding the ball inside to start the second half. They outrebounded the Chanticleers, 43-32, and scored 20 second-chance points. They only shot six more 3-pointers.

UCLA’s youngsters looked comfortable. Looney notched the first double-double of his career. The versatile forward had 17 points on just nine shots, going 9-of-11 from the charity stripe. He also chipped in a career-high 14 rebounds and three assists.

He again edged out junior Tony Parker, who had 11 boards. “He was trying to get some of my rebounds, but I told him, ‘You can’t beat me,’” Looney joked.

Hamilton finished with 16 points, four rebounds and two assists, and made all but one of his four 3-point shots.

Sophomore point guard Bryce Alford didn’t score until nearly five minutes into the second half, but finished with 17 points — tying Looney for the team lead — as well as three rebounds and seven assists.

Jack Wang covers the Chargers, the latest NFL team to relocate to Los Angeles. He previously covered the Rams, and also spent four years on the UCLA beat, a strange period in which the Bruins' football program often outpaced their basketball team. He is a proud graduate of UC Berkeley, where he spent most of his time in The Daily Californian offices in Eshleman Hall — a building that did not become earthquake-safe until after his time on campus.

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